


Life Begins Again

by Shadadukal



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-18
Updated: 2011-05-18
Packaged: 2017-10-19 13:03:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/201137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadadukal/pseuds/Shadadukal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helen and Nikola make their way back to civilization, dealing with hunger pangs.</p><p>Tag to "Awakening".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life Begins Again

After the explosion, they rested against the rock for a while before Helen finally stood up slowly, hands sweeping over her leather coat to get rid of the cave dust that might be blemishing it.

"Nikola," she called when she noticed him just sitting there with, looking blissful.

"Just let me enjoy this moment, Helen."

"Come on, Nikola, we can't stay here all night."

Nikola looked around at the oncoming night and the rapidly setting sun.

"We're never going to make it back to civilization before night settles. We might as well just stay here."

"People may come to investigate the explosion. It's best that we leave."

"True," he granted.

In the blink of an eye, Nikola was standing in front of her, his face inches from hers. Life seemed to pulse from him, to radiate from within to illuminate his face, a serene smile now lighting his features, his body coiled, ready to spring to tackle life head on.

His staring at her was enough for her whole body to tingle. Nikola leaned forward, and she didn't back away.

"Back to the Jeep then," he whispered an inch from her lips.

And then he was gone, striding purposefully towards the car. She felt strangely bereft, even if she hadn't wanted him to kiss her. She took a deep breath before walking to their vehicle herself.

+++

Nikola waited in the passenger seat for Helen to compose herself. Oh how he had wanted to kiss her. And he was convinced that, due to this day's events, she wouldn't have said no. He couldn't trust himself though. He wasn't starving but her pulse beating against his lips might have proven too tempting. Still he needed to feed soon. The human food they had would do nothing to sate his vampiric hunger.

Helen climbed into the driver's seat without a word. She started the engine and it sputtered a bit before settling into a rumbling purr.

"If we do run across those antelopes I mentioned, please do stop the car."

Helen tensed and shifted slightly so her gun would be more easily reached. The move wasn't anywhere near enough to stop him if he attacked her suddenly.

"I'm not that hungry, Helen, but it's not as if there's food for me at our hotel either."

She relaxed subtly.

"Let me know when you're that hungry," she said as she finally started driving.

Silence settled in the car, wrapping around them like a heavy blanket. He was a vampire again, he mused as he watched the East African landscape go by outside his window. Once more the last of his kind. Perhaps it should stay that way. Vampires may have been technologically advanced, but he hadn't liked any of the ones he'd met, either old or brand new.

The stars were numerous and bright in the night sky, twinkling their lights down on the world in a way they didn't in cities anymore, as they shone with their own light, the one he had given them. Now, in the middle of nowhere, he thought that perhaps he had marred the beauty of the world a little bit.

"Stop the car, Helen," he asked suddenly.

"Did you see an antelope?"

"I just want to get out of the car," he said, turning back towards her.

Incomprehension painted Helen's features with a frown, but she did stop the car. He opened the door, jumped out and walked a few feet away from it.

"Nikola, what on Earth are you doing?" Helen asked as she came to stand beside him. He turned to face her in response.

"Look up, Helen."

Her face softened as she looked at the stars, their reflection dancing in her eyes.

"It's beautiful," she said, her voice soft.

"Yes, it is," he replied.

Helen turned her gaze towards him and he darted closer, his lips touching hers. Helen stood frozen on the spot. Any moment now she would push him back. But, after a few moments, Helen returned the pressure of his lips and deepened the kiss. He hugged her closer, enjoying the press over her curves against his body.

Helen finally broke the kiss, but stayed in the circle of his arms, and he rested his forehead against hers.

There were so many things he wanted to say, one he really shouldn't.

"Thank you," he whispered.

She moved her head back a little to look into his eyes. He wondered what she was looking for, what she hoped to see. He ran his hands up and down her leather-covered back. As long as she allowed this...

"We'd better get back to the car," she said. "And back to the hotel."

He removed his arms from around her, and Helen grabbed one of his hands as he was stepping back. She squeezed it, eyes still locked with his, then let go.

+++

She drove as the night wore on and, after a couple of hours, Nikola began strangely alternating between bouts of agitation and stillness. She stopped the car and got out, coming over onto his side, opening the passenger car door.

"Nikola!"

He opened his eyes, dark eyes, claws extending and retracting on the hand clenching his knee. She extended her wrist to just in front of his mouth.

"Helen, I really don't think that is a good idea," he murmured, eyes fixed on the spidery blue lines under her skin.

"If you feed now, you'll be able to stop once you've had enough not to starve, enough to wait till I rustle something up once we're back at the hotel. If you wait till later, you may not have that control."

"I'm not sure I have that control now."

"I trust you. And Afina said I would taste very good."

"Helen, it wouldn't have crossed my mind that this might not be the case," he said, chuckling. "Once we're at the hotel, you may need to tie me up."

"It'll be my pleasure."

He turned briefly towards her, a grin on his lips which she knew to be a match for hers.

And then he bit down on her wrist. It hurt, but admittedly, she'd gone through much worse in her life, so it didn't disturb her that much. Nikola had closed his eyes, sucking on the wound now that he had made it. His tongue swirled on her skin, making her wince, before Nikola got back to drinking.

She thought she was starting to feel a bit light-headed but wasn't sure if that was due to blood loss or the increasing ache between her legs. Nikola looked up then, and she briefly wondered if he had read her thoughts, immediately dismissing the notion as silly.

Still he did stop drinking, licking his lips once they were away from the skin, swiftly moving his thumb to apply pressure on the wound.

"Do you have an extra med kit?"

"In the glove compartment."

Nikola reached for it with his free hand.

"Let me..." she began.

"No, you hold your hand and I'll take care of it."

He got the necessary supplies out. Before he disinfected the bite, he gave it one last lick so as not to lose any of the blood.

Soon, her wrist was bandaged neatly. Nikola had made quite a good job of it. Just as she was about to move away to get back to the driver's side, Nikola reached out for her other wrist, lightning fast. Slowly, staring into her eyes, he brought her hand to his mouth and licked the blood off of her fingers. She could see in his eyes that he knew very well what he was doing to her.

He casually let go of her hand once he was done, as if this was a perfectly common occurrence, an everyday matter that didn't bear further thinking about.

+++

Helen had really done a good job of tying him up while she went looking for something to feed him. There was no way he could move his wrist to slice through the ropes and whatever they were made of – or maybe he still wasn't strong enough – he couldn't just break them either. So he just sat there on the bed, waiting for Helen to come back.

Helen had tasted so good. Any other vampire would have drunk a lot more just because of that. But his feelings for her had acted as a shield against his bloodlust.

He turned towards the noise of the door opening. Helen walked in and then locked the door behind her. She knelt before him and took a bottle of blood out of her bag, holding it out for him to drink.

"It'd be easier if you untie me."

"After this first one, Nikola."

"There's more? Well, Helen, you outdid yourself."

It was somewhat awkward drinking with Helen holding the bottle. He stopped after a disgusting mouthful.

"What the hell is this from?"

"You don't want to know," she said with an apologetic grimace.

The taste was revolting, yet he drank it all, all three bottles Helen had. The second and third went quicker as she had untied him by then.

"Here," she said, handing him a fourth bottle, this one containing a clear liquid.

"And this is...?"

"Moonshine. To wash the taste of the blood off."

"I have no idea how you perform those miracles."

He took a sip and it felt as if his taste buds were being burned clear off of his tongue.

"One should never drink alone," he said, offering her the bottle.

She took a sip and then they passed the bottle back and forth until it was empty. He had drunk most of it as Helen had just been sipping at it so she was barely affected and he once more wasn't at all. He wouldn't miss hangovers. They just remained sitting there, enjoying this shared moment of calm.

"Well," Helen said, finally rising from the bed, "good night, Nikola."

"We should share a shower."

She turned back towards him, arching an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Water conservation. Especially relevant in those parts."

"That line isn't worthy of a genius, Nikola."

"Well, I almost died today, cut me some slack."

"Water conservation will only happen if we keep our hands to ourselves. Can you?"

"Can _you_?" he dared her right back.

+++

The bathroom was shared by both their rooms so it was probably easier to proceed this way.

They washed quickly, efficiently, indeed keeping their hands to themselves. But Nikola's burning gaze on her skin made her nipples tighten on her breasts with a shiver she couldn't blame on the relatively cool water. Occasionally, they brushed against one another, to reach soap, shampoo. His arousal was even more obvious than hers, and perhaps at times she brushed a little too close on purpose but Nikola just grinned fiercely at her. And kept his hands to himself.

Once Helen had rid herself of all the dust and grime of the day, she walked out of the shower stall, Nikola following closely behind her. She turned back toward him just as he was reaching out to her. Then they were kissing, wet bodies sliding against one another. In a flash, she was in Nikola's arms and she didn't say a thing, enjoying his being a vampire again just as much as he did in this moment. He laid her down on her bed, but didn't follow, not immediately.

+++

Nikola took a moment to breathe. Yes, he had fed, but he wasn't under medication. He'd never tested his control in this way. He concentrated and felt around in Helen's bag, grabbed the gun with his magnetism and set it down on the bedside table.

"To shoot me, you know," he explained, before kneeling on the bed near Helen's feet. He started at her foot, kissing the arch of it, Helen's toes curling in response. He wondered if he could still... he concentrated... and then he felt it, electricity swirling inside him, and he shot a tiny spark at Helen. He smiled against her ankle and she grinned back.

"See, I'm even more amazing than before."

She laughed, maybe at him, maybe because she was relieved that he hadn't died. That she wasn't left with only Johnny.

+++

It could have been slow but they went for fast after his initial teasing of her foot. Nikola strained above her, supporting his weight with one arm only, his other hand teasing her skin with light caresses, which sometimes came with electricity. When he brushed his thumb over where they were joined, electricity sparking between them, she cried out, buffeted by waves of pleasure. She hugged him to her as he came with a vampiric growl. He breathed in the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent and, for a moment, she thought he would bite her again, but before she could even reach for the gun, he rolled over onto his side, his body still touching hers from shoulder to foot.

"I'm not going to bite you. You just... smell good."

Hearing this from him, a vampire with a keen sense of smell, was almost intoxicating, far more meaningful than from any other lover finding her pleasant in this regard.

Nikola started to move away from her and she read in his eyes he meant to go back to his own room. She reached for him, hand curling around his hip.

"Stay."

He looked at her, examining her face.

"Unless you think your thirst for blood hasn't been sated."

He closed his eyes, searching himself, and then opened them again. And once more, he tugged her gun with his magnetism.

"Keep it close, just in case."

She grabbed the gun and slid it under the pillows, before turning to kiss him again, his hands splaying on her back.

"This is a one-night only deal," she told him after breaking the kiss, still an inch from his lips.

"Your rules, Helen. Always."


End file.
